Waking up to ash and dust
by PandoraDarlings
Summary: Millie found herself in the middle of an apocalypse, a zombie apocalypse to be exact. The only company she had was an 8year old girl and her dog. Her chances of survival, slim but she will not give up. Might be Oc x Daryl
1. Memories

_Heat that's all she could feel; heat from the roaring fires and heat coming from her legs. She slapped her hands over her ears and closed her eyes trying to drown out the ringing and buzzing in her ears. Once the spinning sensation eased up she took a look around. Limbs, fires and ash littered the floor; it felt as though she had landed in hell. _

Millie jolted awake her, body covered in a thin layer of cold sweat, her hands slightly trembling. She sighed and took a few deep breaths trying to steady her racing heartbeat. She hadn't had a dream like that in a while, she opened her army issued backpack and looked at a couple of orange medical containers, she gave them a small shake 'Getting low' she thought as she put them away. She then looked into the back seat of the car, the 8year old kid and her dog where snuggled together, she smiled. She turned back around and reached for the map that she had placed on the drives seat and studied it for a couple of minutes, trying to decide where to go to next, in the end she came to the conclusion that finding a pharmacy was a good plan. Woodbury was the next closet town; opening the car door she stretched and made her way to the passenger's side, quietly opening the abandoned car she popped her torso in and gently shook the girl "Hayley, time to get up" the little girl opened her tiny innocent eyes and stared back into Milles brown tired eyes. "Time to go" with that Millie then shook the German Shepard (who name was Ralph) and geared up.

Her 'gear' consisted of her backpack which was filled with canned food, dried meat, water, map, a pair of binoculars, a few boxes of ammo and a pair of army issued night vision goggles. She also carried a few weapons; a hunting knife strapped to the top of her thigh and a semi-automatic machine gun that hung over her shoulder and a handgun that was hidden under her jeans near the bottom of her leg. She lent up against the car bonnet arms folded waiting for Hayley and Ralph to hurry up. Finally Hayley walked over with Ralph following in tow "About time bubs" she joked leading the way over to the side of the road where Millie hid the Black 150cc off-road motorcycle she found a couple of days ago. Now this was the hard part getting Hayley, Ralph and the supplies on this thing; she handed Hayley the only helmet as she tied the backpack to the back fender with some rope. She then mounted the bike kicking the side stand to take the full balance of the bike into her own hands, she whistled and ralph came bounding up to her. She smiled; he was such a good companion ever since she got him 3 years ago from a company she couldn't remember the name of. "Hayley you ready?" she asked "Yeah, yeah ima commin'" Hayley mumbled as she approached the bike, she then bent down and lifted Ralphs behind as Millie grabbed the front of him and put him in front of her on the bike. 'So much sass for an 8 year old' she thought as she grabbed her arm and hoisted her up on to the back. "Hold on tight" she told Hayley before starting the bike. Once she was sure Hayley had gotten use to the speed she increased it a tiny bit more hoping to reach the pharmacy before nightfall.

The closer to the town they got, abandoned cars seemed to clutter the road; Millie had to slow back down again once more to weave in and out. The sky began to darken 'God dam it' she increased the speed a bit more once she hit the town, trying to look for the pharmacy, there up ahead she made out the words '**Steve's Pharmacy' **she rode straight up to the door, it would be night soon and she still needed to find a safe place to sleep. She shut the engine off and waited for Hayley and Ralph to get off, once both of them were on the ground Millie kicked the side stand and got off herself. She looked around the deserted street and shook her head 'Another ghost town' she thought before turning back to Hayley "Go hide inside a car…. And take Ralph with you…..And this" She bent down and removed the handgun from the bottom of her jeans and handed it to Hayley "Remember what I told you, Use this only in an emergency …. And remember to take the safety off" The last thing Mille wanted was for Hayley or Ralph to get hurt, so when it came to scavenger missions she generally did them alone. Watching as Hayley and Ralph chose a car near a Bar. Once she knew they were well hidden she took the knife out of the protective material and held it in her right hand, going for the silent approach, and opened the shattered door, a tiny bell above the door rang "Shit" she whispered bracing herself for any zombies that came her way. She was surprised when nothing moved or made a noise so she continued to the back of the trashed store where all the prescriptive medicine was kept. She hopped over the counter to see a dead zombie on the ground smashed by a stack of shelving 'looks like someone had a struggle' she thought as she continued her search for anything named Zoloft and or Prazosin. Making her way through the shelves her hope was fading, most of the medication had already been taken as she was on her last shelf, she sighed and ran her hand through the ends of her ponytail, bending down to look at the last shelf right at the back was half a container of Zoloft. She couldn't believe it! She had finally found something that could help her ration out the rest of her medication for at least another month maybe even a month and a half if she was lucky. She shoved the pill bottle in her pocket and jogged on over to the front door, she was darker now and she needed to hurry.

**BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG.** Four gun shots echoed throughout the town, Mille looked outside franticly searching for any zombies or humans thinking that Hayley was the one shooting. She saw Hayley's little head pop up, face pressed against the car window, she was terrified. 'If it wasn't her…. Then who' Millie crouched down and ran to a nearby car, she then repeated this until she was at the car Hayley and Ralph where in. Still crouching she opened the car door and whispered "Come on, stay low to the ground" Hayley very reluctantly got out of the car and grabbed onto Millie's hand, Millie popped her head above the bonnet of the car and saw an alley way next to bar. "DAVE, TONY" Millie's head snapped to the right as she saw a group of men walking and shouting carrying guns. "MOVE!" she hissed as she pulled Hayley into the alleyway Ralph following closely, walking further into darkness she saw some steps and a door 'Bingo' she thought as she slowly opened the back door the bar.

Before she went into the room, she took the semi-automatic of her shoulder, flicked the safety off and took aim. She took a step into the room and did a quick scan, everything seemed ok so she continued walking until she was in the middle of the room "Hayley its safe" she called on out to her "You sure?" "Course I am darl, now get your butt inside" she said jokingly. She saw the door to the bar and slowly turned the handle and gave it a small push, it made a slight creek noise and the door opened to reveal 3 men.


	2. Farm

**Hi Guys,**

**Woo another chapter! Let me know what you guys think do far :D **

**~Pandora**

_Recap:_

_Before she went into the room, she took the semi-automatic of her shoulder, flicked the safety off and took aim. She took a step into the room and did a quick scan, everything seemed ok so she continued walking until she was in the middle of the room "Hayley its safe" she called on out to her "You sure?" "Course I am darl, now get your butt inside" she said jokingly. She saw the door to the bar and slowly turned the handle and gave it a small push, it made a slight creek noise and the door opened to reveal 3 men._

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"Fuck" she mumbled as she swiftly raised the gun pointing it at the nearest male which happened to be the Asian. A split second later and Hayley walked in her eyes widening in shock, she took a step back and hid behind Millie and Ralph. The Asian boy raised his gun up towards her as did the other two men, Millie looked at the two dead bodies on the ground she counted the bullet holes in the bodies 'four' she thought as she made the connection between them and the four gun shots she heard before.

"I take it they" she motioned with her head at the dead bodies "are Tony and Dave?"

"What of it" the male closest to the front door asked before Millie could answer they heard footsteps approaching the front door and a man mumbling about not checking the bar for tony and Dave.

"Yo, is someone in there? Yo, if someone's in there, we don't want no trouble. We're just looking for our friends." A guy said loudly outside the front door, Millie looked at Hayley

"Behind the counter now!" she ordered as she repointed the gun at the door.

The 3 men also repointed their guns at the door "Fuckin walked straight into a shootout" she mumbled angrily

"We don't want any trouble. We're just looking for our friends. If something happened, tell us. This place is crawling with corpses. If you can help us not get killed, I'd appreciate it." the same guy outside said.

"You do realise we are about to have the biggest shit storm" Millie hissed at the guys anger clearly shown on her face.

The guy and the door rolled his eyes and pressed his head against the door, footsteps could be heard leaving, "They drew on us!"

Millie's eyes screamed anger "Why the fuck did you say something! Now they defiantly know someone is in here!" it was like they had all just signed their lives away. The guy just glared at her

"Dave and Tony in there? They alive?"

"No" he replied

"They killed Dave and Tony!" said one man

"Come on, man, lets go" Said another

"No, I'm not leaving, I'm not telling Jane. I'm not gonna go back and tell them that Dave and Tony got shot by some assholes in a bar."

"I'm not gonna go back and tell them that Dave and Tony got shot by some assholes in a bar" said the fist guy

Door guy responded "Your friends drew on us! They gave us no choice! I'm sure we've all lost enough people, done things we wish we didn't have to, but it's like that now. You know that! So let's just chalk this up to what it was.."

"This isn't going to go down well" Millie mumbled as she readied herself for a fight.

"Wrong place, - wrong..." he didn't even get to finish his sentence before a shower of bullets hit the door and the glass broke.

'Get outta here! Go!" he shouted as he usurer everyone to take cover whist he got of a few rounds himself, Millie ran behind the counter and wrapped her arms around Hayley who was crying and shaking "Shhhhhh its ok I won't let anything happen to you" she said motherly as she stoked her hair trying to calm her down. Everything went quite the only noises you could hear were Hayley's sobs and everyone's deep breathing. **CREEEEEEKK **Millie looked at the back door and slowly stands up raising her gun at the door, the Asian boy opened the door and went inside she decided to follow him for backup. Millie heard a bottle clatter to the ground she taps the boy on the shoulder and moved her gun in the direction the sound came from they watched as someone turned the door knob. "Shit" someone says and before she had the change to pull the trigger the boy let of a shotgun round. "Nice work" she said impressed as she clapped the boy over the shoulder. "Glen! Glen!" someone shouted "I... I'm all right. I'm all right" Glen responded. Mille looked at the boy "Names Millie, you did a job" she said as she walked back up the stairs to see if Hayley was ok. As she was walking up the stairs the old man passed her he just looked at her not saying a word. Mille ran over to Hayley "You ok darl?" Hayley just nodded her head **BANG BANG BANG** another round of shots went off "Come on!" She grabbed her hand and pulled her downstairs the other guy coming with them. He ran over to the old guy

"What Happened?"

"He fired. He must've hit Glenn. He's behind the dumpster. Doesn't look like he's moving." Replied the old guy.

Millie walked over to the door and crouched down "You ok Glen?" she whispered there was no answer the door guy put his back against the wall and held a gun in each hand as he made his way to the dumpster where Glens legs poked out. "Are you hit?" he asked, eventually Glen replied with a "No. No" Mille went back inside and takes hold on Hayley's hand once more and cautiously takes her outside "Stay behind me" she tell the little girl **BANG **another shot went off and a searing pain exploded in Millie's thigh "Fuck" she moaned as she pressed her hand against the bleeding wound as she slide down the wall. In the background she heard a car speeding of and someone calling for help, but that was the least of her worries, her leg was her main concern, she closed her eyes and took some deep breaths steadying her heart beat and trying to get to grips with the pain. Hayley was in hysterics seeing her only companion getting shot and thinking the worst "Its… its ok Hayley" Millie tried to reassure her as she looked back down at her leg, a crimson colour staining her jeans, she took the knife and made a tiny tare in the jeans to inspect the wound. She tried wiping the blood but it just smeared and made it look worse that it was; she sighed and raised her wounded leg with the help of her hands for support "Hayley is there a hole and blood?" She asked with no emotion, Hayley just nodded her head indicating yes. Millie let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding "That's good" she sighed and she put her leg back on the ground.

Taking the knife out of its case she brought it up to her dirty green singlet and cut off a chuck and tired it tightly over her wound. She hobbled to the entrance of the alleyway where the others where, keeping a hand on the wall at all times, the older man looked at her then down to her blood stained make shift bandage

"You've been hit"

"Tell me something I don't know" she replied. The old man whispered something in the door man's ear; he then turned around looking at Millie's wounded leg

"Can you walk?" he asked

"If you call hobbling walking, then yes, yes I can"

"What's your name"

"Mille, yours?"

"Rick…. Your accent where are you from?" He asked before looking down at the crying girl who was holding on to Millie's good leg for dear life.

"Australia; Perth" she stated.

He felt sorry for the little girl and what she must be going through. He bent down to her level and asked

"What's you name?"

"Hayley" she mumbled as she shuffled closer to Millie, trying to hide behind her, Rick slowly stood back up.

"Listen we can take you to the farm we live on, patch you up,… then you can leave" he stated

At the mention of a farm her eyes picked up 'Fresh food, water, even a place to sleep without worry. They may even have kids that Hayley can play with' she thought, she agreed to his offer with a hand shake. "Well ok then. You might be best waiting in the car what with your injury and all" she shrugged her shoulders and headed to the car that Rick pointed out for her. Once she was in the back of the car with Hayley and Ralph she closed her eyes and relaxed ever so slightly.

She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew it was morning and Hayley was shaking her awake. "Mille, were nearly there" she whispered. Mille looked out the window and saw a huge property, big farm house, camp site and a barn "Nice" she mumbled as she looked back down at her leg, her left jean leg was covered with her blood and the make shift bandage was saturated that it wasn't doing its job anymore. She waited for the car to stop before taking off the seatbelt, "Look" Hayley whispered with awe. People and lots of them where coming out to greet the men; Millie just stared not bothering to get out of the car, if these people decided to turn against them there was no way in hell she could fight in the state she was in, best plan was to stay in the car and if things did turn for the worst they would just drive off.

"Who the hell is that?" said a man of colour as he pointed to the back of the car.

"That's Randall" Glen replied before walking inside

"Millie and Hayley" Rick then added on.

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**Let me know what you guys think of it so far :D **

**Also would you prefer sorted chapters updated more often or keep it to once a week?**

**~Pandora**


	3. Scars

**So here is chapter 3 :D enjoy**

**I might be slowing down a bit due to christmas so don't fret ill be back**

**Pandora~**

_RECAP:_

_People and lots of them where coming out to greet the men; Millie just stared not bothering to get out of the car, if these people decided to turn against them there was no way in hell she could fight in the state she was in, best plan was to stay in the car and if things did turn for the worst they would just drive off._

_ "Who the hell is that?" said a man of colour as he pointed to the back of the car._

_"That's Randall" Glen replied before walking inside_

_"Millie and Hayley" Rick then added on_

* * *

The people then started walking towards the car "Stay next to me at all times" she told Hayley not taking her eyes off the approaching people. She opened the door and gently stepped out using the car door as support, her hand gripped the frame and her face slightly scrunched up as the pain was coming back, a few of the people stopped walking when she got out, others looked down the her leg, she got really unconfutable, she hated people looking at her legs, "Look if it's too much trouble we will just leave" she said not wanting upset anyone, when Hayley got out of the car holding on the Ralphs fur and Millie's other leg a few of the women gasped and looked at her, Hayley shied away. An angry looking balled guy came to the front of the group

"And why where they not blindfolded?!" he shouted asking, ignoring her comment.

"Because they helped us out" Rick stated with a nod of his head.

The angry guy rolled his eyes and stormed off knocking shoulders with some people in the group.

"We need to get you patched up, follow me" he said with a wave of his hand. Millie hobbled behind Rick refusing anyone who asked to help, which wasn't many, Hayley followed her like a shadow and as for Ralph he didn't have much of a choice with Hayley dragging him along. Rick led them inside the farm house to a bedroom where the old man was setting up surgical equipment.

"You'd not to leave this room until one of us gets you" he said in a stern voice Millie just nodded her head and sat on the bed, glad to finally lift the pressure of her injured leg, The old man walked over to her side "Names Herschel, do you think it's wise for the little one to watch?" he asked implying to send Hayley somewhere else while he operated. "No she stays". Herschel nodded his head "You need to take off your jeans"

Millie closed her eyes and sighed, this was the part she hated, "Look seeing as I'm your patient and all….. I need to know I have your patent doctor confidentiality "Herschel just looked at her intrigued as to what would have made her say that "Okay….though I not really a 'people' doctor" he slowly stated, She couldn't care less so long as he fixed her leg, She stood up and slowly took off her jeans, she heard him gasp out of shock and surprise, and then got back on the bed without saying a thing. Hershel just stood there looking at her legs, they were seriously scarred. He continued to look at the rest of her body noticing a few scars on her torso too. At least 30% of her body was covered, "What happened?" he asked quietly, "I'd rather not talk about it thanks" Millie replied trying to brush him off, it was a hard and touchy subject for her to talk about, he just stared and didn't move "Did it happen during this walker epidemic?" he asked

Millie chuckled "Walkers? Is that what you calling them?... and no it wasn't I was in the ….. army and a mission went wrong" with that she lied back down on the bed and folder her arms indicating she was done talking about her past. Herschel signed and strapped her legs and lower torso down to reduce her movement once he started. He picked up an Instrument that looked a lot like a hot curling iron "I'm going to have to cauterize the bullet wound, you're lucky it went straight through" Millie just nodded and closed her eyes, she had this sort of procedure done once before but not so medically safe and she knew the pain she was about to endure. She took a few deep breaths then a searing white hot pain erupted in her leg, she bit down so hard she felt like her teeth would break, tears ran down her face and her hands dug into the bed from the agonizing pain. About a minute into the cauterizing she passed out from the pain and Herschel carried on.

_Deep green foliage was all she could see; it was endless labyrinth of trees and vines. It was pure luck that she turned around to look back at the river. There stood a couple of militia, the lead man held his weapon to his shoulder and stared intently into the foliage, just 10 meters further down from where she stood. She knew that any movement would draw his attention straight to her and her team. His professional stance and the way he held his weapon suggested he was far from just an average military man; this looked like a man with comprehensive military training. There were others, possible two who were like him and three who appear more of a shabby bunch. They continued to move towards her and it was clear that there was no way out. In an instant she would be locking eyes with the lead man._

There was no time to think.

She instinctively flicked off the safety catch, raised her weapon towards the group of men and squeezed the trigger. Her first round, fired from the hip, crashed into the lead man's shoulder, a cloud of blood and dust exploding as the bullet found its mark.

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**Thank you for reading x ~**


	4. Characters

**Hi guys~ **

**So iv finally decided on the actresses to 'play' my main charactersAnd they are ...**

**Ali Larteras as Millie Forrest / Forry**

**Alyvia Alyn Lind as Hayley Smith**

**Let me know what you guys think :D **

**Pandora~**


	5. She isnt my daughter

**Sorry it took longer to upload this chapter **

**Enjoy~**

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She slowly opened her eyes, sighed and sat up. She kept having the same dream over and over, she ran a shaky hand through her hair and she swung her legs over the side of the bed forgetting she has just been shot in the thigh and made a grunt noise. This time she slowly pushed herself up and off the bed and hobbled to where her bag lay on the ground – reaching for her medication she took 2 tablets and dry swallowed them. When she stood back up she noticed something was wrong, she did a quick scan of the room and noticed Hayley and Ralph where gone and also her weapons. A frown formed on her face as she made her way to the only exit and swung open the door. She heard banging and people screaming 'BETH" over and over, she hobbled over to the room where all the commotion was happening and saw two women in hysterics, one was going through draws the other stood there looking around the room "What's going on?" she asked once she was in the room, the two women looked at her with slight concern, the short haired woman replied "My sister… she has locked herself in the bathroom…. She is suicidal". Millie made her way over to the bathroom door and looked to see if she could pick the lock – to her disappointment it was a door knob lock. She looked around the room and pointed to the poker sitting by the fireplace "There, use that to pry open the door" she told the women. The older woman looked at her and ran to fetch it, she then placed the poker in the door crack and pried the door open, inside stood a frightened blonde girl who was holding onto her bleeding arm "Im sorry" she whispered as her sister ran to her aid making a fuss, stoking her hair and saying that it would be alright. "Someone go get Dad" said shouted, the older lady ran out of the room in search of Hershel. "Raise her arm over her head" Millie instructed "It will help slow down the bleeding" the blonde sister slowly raised her arm above her head and walked to the bed to sit down.

The woman came back with Hershel in tow, he ran towards his youngest daughter to see the damage she inflicted upon herself. "You can all leave now… Ill patch her up" He mumbled as he tended to his daughter.

When they were outside the room the brunette sister stormed off "You know where Hayley is?" she asked the woman who was besides her

"She is playing with my son Carl" she then looked at Millie "I'm Lori by the way, Rick's wife" she said with a small smile and held out her hand to shake.

Millie shook Loris hand "Nice to meet you "she replied

"You Daughter is very sweet but quiet and shy"

Millie looked at Lori and let out a small laugh "She isn't my daughter, I found her in a locked room in the house I was searching at the time" she said with a smile "I couldn't just leave her there" not many people knew that Millie had a longing to have a child of her own; but since the accident and how badly the lower half of her body suffered she could no longer have children.

Lori was shocked "Oh I'm sorry I just assumed" Millie just smiled

"That's alright no harm done, how long was I out for?"

"About a week" Millie's eyes widened in shock she was out for that long just from a bullet wound, she couldn't believe it. Once she got over the shock she notice she felt more energetic and alert, she didn't realise that she pushed herself so much. When it was just Millie and Ralph she could sleep when she wanted, eat when she wanted but ever since she took Hayley under her care she had to be more careful and take on more responsibility- which meant less sleep as she protected her during the night. Millie was jolted from her thoughts when both women heard shouting coming from outside, they rushed the see what the commotion was all about.

"She tried to kill herself" The sister stated angrily her eyes glaring daggers at another blonde woman

"No, she didn't." Blondie defended herself looking to Lori for some back up in this argument, but Lori just shook her head and took a step backwards. Millie just watched the two girls arguing as she didn't want to over step her welcome by intervening.

"My father is stitching her wrist right now."

"She'll live." Blondie said absentmindedly

"Stay away from her…From both of us." Blondie took a step forward aiming to get inside the house "Don't you dare step foot inside this house again." She hissed.

"I'm not gonna say she was right, but Beth has made her choice…She wants to live and now she knows it...And sometimes you have to cross the line." Blondie replied before walking away towards an RV.

Lori approached the sister and put her arm around her shoulders for comfort "Everything will be alright" she said with a small smile.

Millie approached the two girls and gave a reassuring smile "Im sure she will be fine… most likely stronger" She then held out her hand "Names Millie"

The sister looked at her with tears in her eyes and sniffled " Im Maggie" she then shook Millie's hand "thank you for what you did back there"

Millie smiled "No worries" she then looked at Lori "So where are Carl and Hayley?"

Once Lori pointed out where the kids where Millie made her way on over to them. She saw Hayley laughing and smiling playing with Ralph and Carl- it had been a long time since the last time she saw her smile and look so care free; Millie smiled at the scene in front of her she looked around the area and notice all the people where gone she didn't think anything of it as she called out to Hayley.

Hayley turned around, smiled and ran towards her screaming "MILLIE" at the top of her lungs. Millie bent down and picked Hayley up once she reached her arms.

"Hi Hayley" Millie chuckled "You being a good girl?" She asked

Hayley nodded her head and wrapped her small arms around her neck "Im glad you better" she mumbled into Millie's neck.

"Course I am!... now why don't you introduce me to your friend" she mentioned as she put Hayley back down on the ground and held her hand. Hayley rushed off dragging Millie behind her, She winced as the pain in the leg came back from the speed they were going but once they reached Carl Millie took a seat on the ground to rest her leg.


End file.
